Safety lock for automobile inside door handles



Dec. 31, 1935. J. P. JOHNSON ET AL SAFETY LOCK FOR AUTOMOBILE INSIDEDOOR HANDLES Filed Nov. 16, 1952 Patented Dec. 31, 1935 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE John Peter Johnson and Oscar Christensen, Shelton, Conn.

Application November 16, 1932, Serial No. 642,874

Claims.

This invention relates to looks, and more particularly to vehicle doorlocks such as the looks or latches of automobile doors that haveinterior and exterior operating handles.

The doors of automobiles are generally adapted to be locked from theinterior or exterior of the body, and in some instances, may besimultaneously locked from the exterior of the vehicle so as to preventunauthorized entrance the doors be locked in such a manner thatunauthorized or accidental exit from the vehicle is prevented.

One of the principal objects of this invention is to provide a lockingmechanism that will prevent unauthorized or accidental 'exit through avehicle door.

Another object is to provide such a mechanism that Will act upon theinterior handle of a vehicle door to prevent its normal operation ofunlocking and unlatching the door.

Still another object is to provide locking means for the interior handleof a vehicle door, which, when in operable position will not interferewith 5: the operation of an exterior handle to open the door.

To these and other ends, the invention consists in the novel featuresand combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a side View of a portion of a'vehicle door to which anembodiment of our invention is applied;

Fig. 2 is a partial face view of the latch edge 7 of the door;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of a handle locking mechanismembodying the features of this invention, the door being generallysectioned on line 33 of Fig. 2, and

4.0 Fig. 4 is a section on line 44 of Fig. 3.

The door locking and latching device selected.

to illustrate the features of this invention is of a type wherein alatch bolt l9, mountedin a casing H, may be retracted against action-ofa spring 45 i2, by an exteriorly disposed handle l3, through an arm l4,connected to the handle [3, and engaging the latch bolt lfl in a recessl5 formed therein to permit opening of a door It in which this mechanismis mounted. An interiorly disposed handle is provided to retract bolt H)from the inside of the vehicle. The handle I! is operatively connectedby means of a shaft l8, journaled in the door Hi, to a lever 19, whichin turn is connected to latch bolt Ill by a latch strap 55 secured tothe latch bolt, in this instance,

thereinto. In some instances, it is desirable that by a pin 2|. Thestrap 20 is provided with a slot 22 in which a pin or bolt 23 providedon lever arm I 9 is permitted to slide, and by which structure the strap20 is permitted to move when the bolt i8 is operated by handle l3 andWithout moving handle 11.

The handle locking mechanism embodying the features of this invention isarranged to act upon handle ll through lever is to prevent actuation ofthe latch bolt l0 thereby; In this instance, lever I9 is provided with aportion extending beyond the end thereof, which is secured to strap 29.A disk 25 is eccentrically mounted upon a shaft 2'6, which extends intothe door Hi from its latch edge face and is disposed below the latchoperating mechanism above described. The shaft 2 5 is journaled at itsinner end in a bracket 21 and retained against endwise movement by acollar 28. The disk 25 and shaft 26 are so disposed in respect to thelever arm l9 that upon ro tating shaft 26 a portion of the disk 25, dueto being eccentrically mounted upon said shaft, will engage the leverarm I9 to prevent movement thereof into its bolt retracting position. Inthis instance, the disk 25 is rotated into the path of movement of theportion 24 provided upon the lever l9. v

At the latch edge of the door It, the shaft 26 is journaled in thematerial of the door and its outer end extends into a recess orcounterbore 29, formed in the'latch edge face of the door. A shaftoperating member 39 is, in this instance, secured to the outer end ofshaft 25 and while this is preferable, the shaft could be operated byother means. Member 3!! is disposed wholly within the recess Hand, inthis instance, is in the form of a diskv having a rib extendingoutwardly from its outer face, which rib may be interrupted to formdiametrically aligned thumb and finger engaging lugs 3i and 32.. Thebottom wall 33 of recess 29 is provided with an opening through which aspring pressed plunger 34 extends into the recess and engages the innerface of member 30. The plunger may be disposed in a container 35 andacted upon by a compression spring 36, as shown in Fig. 3.

Depressions may be formed in the inner face of member 30 to receive theend of plunger 34 whereby the locking disk 25 will be retained inposition toengage lever I9, or in a position where it will permit thelever I9 to swing into latch bolt operating position. The lug 3! may bepointed, as at 31, to visually indicate the position of the locking disk25.

By the provision of the mechanism above described, the user of a vehiclemay turn the member 30 to set disk 25 into the dotted position shown inFigs. 3 and 4, wherein it will interfere with the normal latchretracting action of the interior handle I!- by engagement with leverarm IS, without interfering with the latch retracting action of theexterior handle l3, and whereby unauthorized or accidental exit from thevehicle will be prevented. The novel mechanism of this invention isinexpensive to manufacture, efficient in use, and may be readily appliedto a vehicle door. This mechanism may be indefinitely left in operativeposition without interfering with the opening and closing of the door bymeans of the exterior handle l3.

While we have shown and described a preferred embodiment of ourinvention, it will be understood that it is not to be limited to thedetails shown but is capable of modification and variation within thespirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. In a latch mechanism, a latch casing having a portion disposed at anedge face of a door, a retractable latch bolt in said casing adapted toextend from said casing portion, a handle adapted to be secured upon adoor and operatively connected to said latch bolt to retract the same,and means disposed outside of said casing and operable on said handle toprevent operation thereof to retract said latch bolt without interferingwith the retraction of said latch bolt, and means to operate said firstmentioned means, said last named means disposed adjacent said casingportion and being mountable in the edge face of a door at which saidcasing portion is disposed.

2. In a vehicle door latch mechanism, a latch casing having a portiondisposed at an edge face of a door, a retractable latch bolt in saidcasing, adapted to extend from said casing portion, a swingable handleconnected to said latch bolt to retract the same, and rotatably mountedmeans movable into position to interfere with the swinging movement ofsaid handle to prevent its latch bolt retracting action, and means torotate said rotatable means, said last named means disposed adjacentsaid casing portion and being mountable in the edge face of the door atwhich said casing portion is disposed.

3. In combination with a vehicle door, a latch casing, a retractablelatch bolt in said casing, an interior handle on said doo'r, means toconnect said handle to said latch bolt to retract the same, meansmounted in said door without the casing and rotatable into position toengage said connecting means to prevent latch bolt retraction by saidhandle, and means disposed in an edge face of said door for operatingsaid rotatable means.

4. In combination with a vehicle door, a latch casing, a retractablelatch bolt in said casing, an interior handle on said door remote fromsaid casing, means to connect said handle to said latch bolt to retractthe same, means rotatably mounted below said handle and within said doorand movable into position to engage said connecting means to preventlatch bolt retraction by said handle, and means disposed at an edge ofsaid door to operate said rotatably mounted means.

5. In combination with a vehicle door, a latch casing, a retractablelatch bolt in said casing, an interior handle on said door remote fromsaid casing, means to connect said handle to said latch bolt to retractthe same, means rotatably mounted below said handle and within said door10 but without said casing and movable into position to engage saidconnecting means to prevent latch bolt retraction by said handle, andmeans disposed in an edge face of said door and connected to saidrotatable means to rotate the same. 5

6. In a vehicle door, a handle swingably mounted on said door, a levermounted within said door and swingable with said handle, rotatable meansdisposed in said door to rotate into and out of lever engaging position,and means dis- 20 posed at an edge of said door to operate saidrotatably mounted means.

'7. In a vehicle door, a handle swingably mounted on said door, a. levermounted within said door and swingable with said handle, rotat- 5 ablemeans disposed in said door to rotate into and out of lever engagingposition, and a member countersunk in an edge face of said door andconnected to said rotatable means to rotate the same. 0

8. In a vehicle door, a handle swingably mounted on said door, a levermounted within said door and swingable with said handle, a shaftrotatably mounted in said door, a member movable by said shaft into andout of lever en- 5 gaging position, and a member disposed in an edgeface of said door and connected to said shaft to move said leverengaging member into and out of lever engaging position.

9. In combination with a vehicle door, a latch o casing, a retractablelatch bolt in said casing, an interior handle on said door, means toconnect said handle to said latch bolt to retract the same, means insaid door rotatable into position to engage said connecting means toprevent 5 latch bolt retraction by said handle, means disposed on anexterior portion of said door which is covered when said door is inclosed position for operating said rotatable means and a detent toreleasably hold said last-named means against 50 movement.

10. In combination with a door, a latch casing, a retractable latch boltin said casing,

a handle mounted on said door, means to connect said handle to said boltto retract the same 55 including a swinging lever mounted within thedoor, means in said door movable into position to engage said lever toprevent a bolt retracting movement thereof, and means disposed in anedge face of the door for operating said movable 50 means, said leverwithin the door having a lostmotion connection with the latch bolt.

JOHN PETER JOHNSON.

OSCAR CHRISTENSEN. g5

